Description of the COMIFAC Support Project
Title : Regional support to COMIFAC
Ordered by : German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Countries : 10 COMIFAC Member States (Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe)
Principal Executing Agency: Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC)
Total duration : January 2019 to June 2022
Background information
The Congo Basin forests are the second largest tropical forest on the planet after the Amazon. Its exceptional richness in biodiversity is an important resource for the survival of populations, including a large number of indigenous populations. As a carbon sink, the region is of crucial importance for global climate regulation. The destruction and degradation of forest ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity occur through the conversion of forested land to agricultural land, unsustainable land use practices and uncontrolled logging, massive poaching of wildlife, extractive industries and infrastructure development. High population growth, poverty, lack of alternative sources of income for rural populations, insufficient participation of rural populations in protected area management and low value of forest resources are increasing human pressure on forests.
COMIFAC is the regional political institution whose mission is to provide guidance, harmonization, coordination and monitoring of all issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of forests in the Congo Basin. Although COMIFAC has made progress at the regional level since its inception, and has succeeded in positioning itself at the international level as a competent and negotiable organization, the COMIFAC system cannot yet fully fulfil its strategic and operational missions with sufficient effectiveness. This may be due to the steering and implementation capacities of COMIFAC's bodies and actors, which remain insufficient in relation to the complexity of its missions.
Objective
The Central African Forest Commission system effectively fulfils its strategic and operational missions.
Approach
The project approach is characterized by a focus on the two technical themes of biodiversity and forest governance, the development and implementation of pilot initiatives in the field to exploit existing learning.
The project is active in the 10 COMIFAC member countries. It works closely with the Executive Secretariat of COMIFAC (SEC) on the basis of a multi-level implementation strategy. The project also collaborates with bilateral GIZ projects in the forestry and environment sector in Cameroon and the DRC, and implements pilot initiatives (local, national and regional levels) to support the internalization of COMIFAC subregional guidelines on the conservation and sustainable management of forests.
The project thus supports:
- Strengthening the organisational functioning of the COMIFAC system, which involves strengthening COMIFAC's organisational and technical skills, and developing knowledge that can benefit actors in other Member States.
- Improving the use of information and good practices in the system, in order to increase the effectiveness of learning and knowledge transfer, and to ensure that this knowledge is processed, incorporated into the regional system and used.
- Improving the participation of indigenous peoples, through the recognition by national and local governments of the importance of the participation of local and indigenous peoples in achieving the objectives of biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest management, and the subsequent implementation of processes to organize such participation.
- Increasing the supply of modern and needs-oriented qualification formats, with co-financing from the European Union. This implies that the modernisation of regional training provision must make a contribution in accordance with its mandate formulated in the Convergence Plan. The same applies to the progressive development and harmonisation of the quality of training provision with the RIFFEAC network.
- Improving the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol through the emergence of a national ABS process that can generate and ensure the participation of local target groups.
Results
The 10 COMIFAC countries have ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The integration of COMIFAC subregional guidelines on the conservation and sustainable management of forests into national laws and regulations has led to the strengthening and harmonization of national policies and legislation.
The signing of the collaboration agreements strengthened the institutional framework of COMIFAC and its Partner institutions : RAPAC "Réseau des Aires Protégées d'Afrique Centrale", RIFFEAC "Réseau des Institutions de Formation Forestière et Environnementale en Afrique Centrale".
The implementation of forest and environmental policies and legislation is carried out in a concerted manner : the subregion systematically develops common position papers within COMIFAC working groups and sub-working groups, and within civil society networks, as a prelude to international meetings on forests and the environment.
Forest training is improved: there is a mapping of training institutions. These institutions have benefited from multiple external experiences and training to improve the quality of teaching. Three (3) of them have set up practical training courses on e-Learning.
COMIFAC is continuously pursuing its efforts to implement international agreements and conventions on the conservation and sustainable management of forests and to ensure the consistency of forest and environmental policies. It maintains a permanent dialogue at the sub-regional level between all stakeholders to address environmental threats to the forests of the Congo Basin. In addition, COMIFAC is improving its visibility at the international level to encourage a broader contribution to the sustainable management of the forests of the Congo Basin.